Canada, hockey and all that

Anyway, one of her customers was on the US Men's Curling Team. She said he was just thrilled to be going as 43 year old guys don't go to the Olympics many other ways.

40 years ago today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMf2fAXPS1Q

My school gathered a bunch of classes together in the grade 6 pod to watch the game together. Sorry to say that I hated all the attention at the time--I was a baseball fan--and was probably the only kid in there not overjoyed.

I was reading about that earlier this month. I had no idea it was THAT big a thing.

No exaggeration--one of the three or four key moments in Canadian history. Primarily because of the initial shock of losing the first game to the Russians; after five games, we were down 3-1-1. The Canadian team assumed they'd roll over the Russians, and they were in fact up by two goals a few minutes into the first game.

I mean that's just a sports and national identity thing that I've never lived through on the level that you're talking about. What DID make it so key? I've read the explanations and maybe I really do just have to be Canadian to understand, but the leap from 'damn this was a crazy shock' to 'right up on there with confederation!' is admittedly hard for me to fully grasp.

Part of it also is me thinking "Well this was the 1970s not the 1870s, there was already a Canada for a long damn time!"

Very much all about national identity--as you may have heard, we're a modest, self-deprecating country living in the shadow of a behemoth. (Contradicting what I wrote above--hockey is the one thing we're not modest about.) Have you ever seen My Life as a Dog? There's a scene where Ingemar Johansson wins the heavyweight title and the entire village pours into the street in celebration; very similar to that.

I generally can't take the Tragically Hip. The one song of theirs I absolutely love makes reference to the '72 series:

If there's a goal that everyone remembers
it was back in ole' '72
We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger
And all I remember was sitting beside you
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVs_TZOZD0w

Haha okay that's nice.

I've seen this couple-weeks-after-the-fact doc (included with the complete DVD of the series) in which a coupla newsmagazine-types are interviewing a Grade 8-ish class about the game, and one curmudgeonly kid says he hates hockey and wishes the Russkies won. Now I can't help believing that that kid WAS clemenza!

(My Kindergarten class didn't get to watch the games - dunno what time they were televised, even. I do remember being vaguely aware of the victory several months after the fact, however; and I was no great hockey fan then either, despite owning a Bobby Orr sweater and lunchbox.)

That's funny about the DVD doc--it may as well have been me. I even bet a friend (a quarter or something) and took Russia. One of the minor regrets of my life, the memory of sitting in there with half the school and not being able to share in the euphoria. (I made a big deal out of wanting Russia to win, too, so more than a few people knew of my heresy.) It was my inner Morbius--it's been a long, slow process, but I've mostly killed him off over the past 40 years.

'right up on there with confederation!'

Wait, I've never thought of that hockey game this way.

Ned was responding to my contention that it was a key moment in Canadian history--blame me.

Is this really considered one of the 5 most important events in Canadian history by that many non-boomers?

xpost!

what are the other candidates

4. First national broadcast of The Great White North

3. Timmy Horton desires more coffee with his morning donut.

2. A solemn pledge by the entire nation to pretend "Tears Are Not Enough" never existed.

1. publication of anne of green gables

1. The mysterious disappearance of Don Cherry (pending).

Off the top of my head: Confederation, the October Crisis, repatriation of the Constitution, the Conscription crisis, Newfoundland joining the country, two referenda on Quebec sovereignty, Pearson's Nobel Prize for resolving the Suez Crisis and the birth of UN peacekeeping, the building of the national railway, the discovery of insulin, ...

4xpost OK, Ned wins.

Okay that whole Newfoundland thing still bemuses me. Were there border guards and attack Labradors preventing people from escaping Halifax?

Some poetic license...in my demographic (so named), it looms large. Was it important like the War of 1812, or the FLQ crisis? No. But if you've followed the coverage this week, I think you'll agree that remains an extremely resonant benchmark.

Here are the results of a poll (conducted by the very official sounding "Dominion Institute"--they ran a supermarket chain, too) that places it fifth:

http://www.1972summitseries.com/greatestevent.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvbN-Grj7CY

two years in a row

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68YECPIrrQo

that was pretty horrible, yes

i love the liiga

but i can't help but feel happy our team won

tbh i'm happy too; i just wish perry wasn't the captain

this is doing the rounds today (it does so every now and again though)

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/canadian-soldiers-hockey-korea-1952/

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5qmViyQtuLg/WFtnPnNwEVI/AAAAAAAAMFw/7SMVQprYjX8GeuQSCcf5EpaPhuMbYr9bACLcB/s1600/canadians_soldiers_hockey_korea_1.jpg

a break from the nightmare that was the korean war:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kapyong

Although heavily outnumbered, the 27th Brigade held their positions into the afternoon before the Australians were finally withdrawn to positions in the rear of the brigade, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties. The Chinese then turned their attention to the Canadians on Hill 677, but during a fierce night battle they were unable to dislodge them. The fighting helped blunt the Chinese offensive and the actions of the Australians and Canadians at Kapyong were important in assisting to prevent a breakthrough on the United Nations Command central front, and ultimately the capture of Seoul. The two battalions bore the brunt of the assault and stopped an entire Chinese division during the hard fought defensive battle. The next day the Chinese withdrew back up the valley, in order to regroup. Today, the battle is regarded as one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian and Canadian armies in Korea.